bvella wrote: Much more believable than a 42 year old standing up out of the seat the whole climb and doing it with ease.

Davidrnau wrote:.....and yeah the whole Vuelta I have been thinking to myself, wow a 41 year old superhero, the way he climbed up those last few km's of stage 18 ...he got through those 20% gradients like a man thats just hopped on a road bike

Sorry, but I am abit 'sus' of Horner and his 2013 Vuelta performances.

DavidS wrote:Very exciting Vuelta, far more exciting than UK Postal going for a ride around France.

While I agree that one does look at Horner's performance and ask questions, tonight's stage on the Angliru was fabulous. Nibali threw everything at Horner and Horner won out.

DS

Henk made a good comment that he may of been able to win a GT all those years ago but wasn't able to as he was racing against a uneven playing field?Lets not forget he hasn't come out of no where.. hes won 1 week races when racing for himself

DavidS wrote:Very exciting Vuelta, far more exciting than UK Postal going for a ride around France.

While I agree that one does look at Horner's performance and ask questions, tonight's stage on the Angliru was fabulous. Nibali threw everything at Horner and Horner won out.

DS

Henk made a good comment that he may of been able to win a GT all those years ago but wasn't able to as he was racing against a uneven playing field?Lets not forget he hasn't come out of no where.. hes won 1 week races when racing for himself

It was a level playing field as far as Horner was concerned. As I said on page 1, Horner is widely believed to be rider 15 from the whole Lance Armstrong investigation.

RonK wrote:Sorry, cycling might need heros right now but Horner's performance is just to difficult to swallow.

Otherwise, I been thinking that this has been the best tour of the year. But now I'm thinking that it's been the best tour if the past several years.

So you're saying the best tour in years is one where the winner cheated so the result is void? So many problems with that statement:-?

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Those are your words, not mine. However a healthy dose of skepticism is necessary if cycling is to avoid another LA debacle.

There is so much more to a grand tour than just the general classification. The 2013 Vuelta has been a great one on many levels. The parcours has been interesting and challenging for all (except the gc winner). There have been many different stage winners, and some great new talented young riders have emerged, and some truly heroic individual efforts produced. Despite the course being essentially a climber's course, the noted climbers have not totally dominated. There have been only few long boring sprint stages and time trails, and even these have been sprinkled through the tour rather than end to end. There is no doubt in my mind that it has definitely been a better tour than any of the last three years grand tours.

All right there is his age (6 years older than any former winner of a grand tour) ... never previously winning a grand tour stage ... being at the peak of his form long after most riders have retired ... that his best form came on the back of a rubbish season due to injury ... that an expert thinks his bio passport values are a questionable. But apart from that, what has Horner done to raise suspicions ?

All right there is his age (6 years older than any former winner of a grand tour) ... never previously winning a grand tour stage ... being at the peak of his form long after most riders have retired ... that his best form came on the back of a rubbish season due to injury ... that an expert thinks his bio passport values are a questionable. But apart from that, what has Horner done to raise suspicions ?

clackers wrote:Drugs are especially problematic for riders like Horner or Rogers, who are nearing the end of their careers and being caught simply means bringing the retirement forward a couple of years.

No positives have come out of Horner's doping controls, and not mention of retirement. He may yet still find a ride in 2014, albeit a fairly unglamorous one for a Grand Tour winner.

clackers wrote:Drugs are especially problematic for riders like Horner or Rogers, who are nearing the end of their careers and being caught simply means bringing the retirement forward a couple of years.

No positives have come out of Horner's doping controls, and not mention of retirement. He may yet still find a ride in 2014, albeit a fairly unglamorous one for a Grand Tour winner.